Later on, how she got up to the attic or fell asleep, Jiang Xi couldn’t remember.

When she woke up again, it was already completely dark outside.

There were fireworks going off.

After getting some sleep, her body felt much better. She heard clattering sounds coming from downstairs. She wasn’t sure what Jiang Xiaochan was up to.

She changed clothes and headed down.

Meng Xuemei wasn’t home. Jiang Xiaochan had rolled up her sleeves, standing on tiptoe, stirring a pot with a metal spoon.

“What are you cooking?” Jiang Xi asked.

“You’re awake!” Jiang Xiaochan looked at her cheerfully, like a little puppy wagging its tail. “I’m making mung bean porridge. It’s ready! I was just about to go call you!”

Jiang Xi noticed the scar on Jiang Xiaochan’s arm.

Her hand gently touched her own arm… That scar that had suddenly appeared was still there.

She lowered her gaze to hide her emotions, then smiled brightly and said, “I’m not hungry right now. Just pack a bowl for me. I’ll drink it later.”

Jiang Xiaochan looked puzzled. “Pack it? Where are we going?”

“Let’s call Lin Jia and go watch the fireworks.”

Jiang Xi’s words made Jiang Xiaochan’s eyes light up instantly.

“Yay!” She bounced upstairs to change clothes.

It was easy to find Lin Jia. All they had to do was walk across the street and knock on the door.

When they called for him, he had just finished washing the dishes and still had his sleeves rolled up.

“Hurry! Let’s run!” Jiang Xi grabbed his arm and pulled him out before he could react.

“Why are we running?” Lin Jia hadn’t figured out what was happening.

“To watch the fireworks! Fireworks don’t wait. They’re almost over!”

Even with her short legs, Jiang Xiaochan ran faster than both of them.

The snack street was packed with people.

The fireworks show had drawn in a massive crowd. There wasn’t an inch of empty space. They squeezed in with everyone else, all craning their necks to look up at the sky.

Beams of light shot up like fountains, rushing from the ground into the night sky. Waves of glowing color spread out one after another, making the world shimmer with brilliance.

Some smaller sparks flew even higher. When they reached the highest point, they burst open with a “boom,” like shattered stars lighting up the deep, dark night.

Jiang Xiaochan watched in awe, her mouth wide open in amazement.

Jiang Xi suddenly became curious about Lin Jia’s expression and glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

Like everyone else, he was focused on the fireworks lighting up the night.

There was happiness written on his face. In his eyes, which sparkled with the fireworks, a tiny universe seemed to reside.

Jiang Xi couldn’t stop looking at him. She was completely mesmerized.

The sound of fireworks exploding rang in her ears. Countless glowing waterfalls cascaded in bursts of color.

At that moment, he also quietly turned to look at her.

It was such a beautiful and perfect night. Her heart skipped a beat.

They didn’t say a word, just looked at each other like a couple of fools.

Her shoulder pressed lightly against his chest. Without a word, he shielded her from the crowd pressing in from the side.

Even though fireworks only last for a moment, the warmth they brought felt like it would never fade. It stayed in her heart.

The fireworks show was coming to an end.

“Wow! Look!”

Jiang Xiaochan pointed excitedly. “People over there are getting ready to release sky lanterns. They’re so pretty!”

The envy was all over her face.

Her brother and sister didn’t want to dampen her mood. They said, “Then let’s go too.”

They had left in such a hurry that when the three of them pooled their money, it was only enough to buy one lantern.

Like everyone else, they planned to write their wishes on the lantern.

When they unfolded it, the three of them realized they’d lucked out. The big sky lantern had a large blank space, enough to hold all three of their wishes.

They had the lantern.

They had a pen to write.

Then came the problem—what should they write?

It was a bit awkward. This wasn’t a silent wish in your heart. Whatever they wrote would be seen by others… and it would float into the sky.

“Lin Jia,” Jiang Xi suddenly called out to him.

“Hm?” He paused what he was doing.

Gathering her courage, Jiang Xi said, “In the future, can we—”

Halfway through, she lost her momentum and swallowed the words she originally wanted to say, changing them at the last second.

“Let’s get into a good university together!”

“Okay.” Lin Jia smiled gently.

Then came the copycat Jing Xiaochan: “I want to be like you too. I want to get into a good university.”

So the three of them picked up their pens and wrote this simple wish on the sky lantern.

From now on, Jing Xiaochan wouldn’t be allowed to copy answers anymore. Jiang Xi covered her own side of the lantern and began to write.

In the future, go to a big city and become a city girl.

She vaguely remembered this was her wish when she was fifteen. Jiang Xi didn’t want to change it.

When Lin Jia was writing, both Jiang Xi and Jing Xiaochan craned their necks to peek.

After thinking for a moment, he wrote:

In the future, reopen Grandpa’s restaurant.

Only Jing Xiaochan hadn’t written her wish yet.

She shook her head and said unseriously, “When I grow up, I don’t really want to do anything. I just want to travel around and have fun.”

Jiang Xi smiled: “Then write that. Just put, ‘In the future, I want to travel everywhere and have fun.’”

Lin Jia gave her face: “Go ahead and write it. We won’t look. We won’t laugh.”

“Okay.” Jing Xiaochan took the pen.

She held the sky lantern by herself, looking like a student staring at an exam paper she couldn’t answer. Her face was full of worry as she dawdled.

After dragging it out for ages, Jing Xiaochan kept writing and crossing out, crossing out and writing again. Her side of the lantern ended up a big messy patch of black ink.

By the time Jiang Xi and Lin Jia finished walking around the night market and came back, Jing Xiaochan had finally finished writing.

She had put real thought into it. Her sentence read:

In the future, I want to experience everything and feel everything; I want to travel the world and see the most beautiful sights.

Jiang Xi couldn’t help but read Jing Xiaochan’s wish over and over again.

Being young was so nice. Your heart was full of hope.

You couldn’t even imagine how wonderful the future might be. It felt like the world was right beneath your feet.

The three of them worked together to light the sky lantern.

The summer night breeze filled the little lantern, which carried all their wishes.

It swayed as it rose and joined the other sky lanterns, becoming part of a vast pool of wishes.

Jing Xiaochan stared at their little lantern with longing.

Even after it had floated away for a long time, she was still looking.

Feeling much more at ease now, Jiang Xi also got her appetite back. She opened the container she’d brought and started eating the mung bean porridge Jing Xiaochan had made.

The porridge was smooth and grainy, sweetened with rock sugar, and easy to swallow.

She ate with great enjoyment.

“Big sis, thank you!”

Jing Xiaochan looked up, tears streaming down her face.

She hadn’t turned around, so Jiang Xi didn’t see that she was crying.

“Thank me for what?”

“Thank you… for finding me.”

Jing Xiaochan’s voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

She said, “Big sis, I really missed you.”

The sky lantern flew higher and higher. That flicker of light that had left their hands floated into the long river of lights and disappeared, never to be found again.

Jiang Xi finished the entire bowl of mung bean porridge.

Her body didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore. As if a burden had been lifted, her consciousness broke free from her body, stretching out and becoming light and free.

So mung bean porridge really does help with the heat, Jiang Xi realized, a little late.

So no matter how much she held on, the time had come.

She was going to leave this world again.

—She really didn’t want to go.

—She really wanted to stay here.

—She really wished this summer could last forever.

—She really wanted… to be happy.

At the very end, she vaguely saw Jing Xiaochan’s tear-streaked face.

Strangely, it wasn’t Jing Xiaochan who kept crying. It was her own tears that welled up, filled her eyes, and slid down her cheeks.